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Feb 28, 2015

Why Your Allergy Medicine May Help Treat Your Lyme

Recently all the buzz in the Lyme community is about how your allergy
medication, specifically Claritin®, may help treat Lyme disease. Lyme
disease is a potentially debilitating infection caused by the bacteria
Borrellia burgdorferi. If caught early enough, Lyme disease can be
treated effectively. The infection goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed
more often then not causing a chronic infection which is much more
difficult to treat.

The
Stanford School of Medicine has been conducting a study funded by the
Bay Area Lyme Foundation showing that the common antihistamine
ingredient found in Claritin®, may help to kill off the bacteria that
causes Lyme disease.

Loratidine and specifically its
metabolic derivative, desloratadine, are shown to be able to prevent
manganese from entering the cell wall of the the bacteria, essentially
starving the bacteria to death. These studies have only been performed
in test tubes thus far.

Manganese (Mn) is a key mineral
required by the body for proper enzyme functioning, nutrient
absorption, wound healing and bone formation. It is found in foods like
nuts, legumes, seeds, tea, and leafy greens. Lyme bacteria also
require manganese for their survival along with other trace minerals
which they scavenge from the blood taking what they need. By preventing
the bacteria from absorbing the body's manganese the bacteria will
essentially starve to death.

“Because current
treatments do not work for everyone and the bacteria that causes Lyme
disease offers many treatment challenges, this study offers encouraging
insights for researchers, and hope for the 80 million Americans at risk
of getting Lyme disease,” Bonnie Crater, founder and Science Committee
Chairperson, Bay Area Lyme Foundation.

Bay Area Lyme
Foundation, is a national nonprofit organization committed to making
Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure. For more information
about Lyme disease or to get involved, visit www.bayarealyme.org or call
us at 650-530-2439.